Page 12
March 7, 2018
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Courage and Political Will in the Gun Reform Debate
Advocacy
grows after
latest school
shooting
M arC h. M orial
Nearly 20 years ago,
in the wake of what was
then the worst school
mass shooting, I led a
bipartisan group of may-
ors urging Congress to pass
major gun reform legislation.
The Gun Violence Task
Force of the U.S. Conference
of Mayors, of which I was
president, called for reforms
including raising the minimum
age for purchasing and possess-
ing a handgun from 18 to 21,
requiring background checks
at guns shows and limiting gun
purchases to one a month per
individual.
As horrified as we were
then, just after the Columbine
shooting in 1999, we could
by
not have imagined the next 19
years would bring not reforms,
but even more lenient gun
laws; another 200-plus school
shootings, and more than 122
students, teachers and coaches
slain.
The Everytown for
Gun Safety coalition,
to which National Ur-
ban League belongs,
has tallied the num-
ber of school shoot-
ings so far in 2018 at
17. The number is disputed by
those who believe accidental
gunfire should not be counted,
but what a tragic statistic over
which to haggle.
Mass shootings garner head-
lines but gun violence kills an
average of 96 Americans every
single day. We need reform at
every level. The National Ur-
ban League supports:
A criminal background
check for every gun sale. States
that require background checks
for all handgun sales see about
half the rate of firearm deaths
among domestic violence vic-
tims, law enforcement in the
line of duty and suicides, and
about half as much gun traf-
ficking in cities.
Renewal of the Public Safe-
ty and Recreational Firearms
Use Protection Act, commonly
known as the assault weapons
ban. The AR-15 rifle, used in
many of the deadliest recent
mass shootings, uses 30-round
magazines, allowing a shooter
to fire about a hundred rounds
per minute.
Keeping guns out of the
hands of convicted domestic
abusers. Half the women killed
with guns in the U.S. are mur-
dered by their partners – about
50 women every month. More
than half of mass shootings in-
volved the killing of a partner
or relative.
Education, technology and
laws that keep guns out of the
hands of children. American
children are 16 times more
likely to die via gunshot than
in other developed countries,
usually as a result of play-
ing with a gun in their own
homes.
A strong federal trafficking
law to crack down on illegal
gun trafficking networks. Nine-
ty percent of the guns found at
crime scenes in New York City
were originally bought out of
state and brought to the city
illegally. The current law that
prohibits “selling guns without
a federal license,” carries the
same punishment as trafficking
chicken or livestock.
For those of us who’ve long
been engaged in the fight to re-
form our nations gun laws, the
movement that has arisen in the
wake of last month’s Parkland,
Fla. shooting has brought both
inspiration and hope.
Nothing stands in the way of
common sense reform but our
own lack of courage and politi-
cal will. The teenagers of Park-
land have both.
Marc H. Morial is president
and chief executive officer of
the National Urban League.